DW: "Corridor 8" in the Balkans, old grudges are an obstacle

When you leave Skopje and head towards the Bulgarian border – North Macedonia's not-so-easy neighbor – the road of about two hours is almost entirely a construction site.

The last road segment Rankovce - Kriva Palanke - Deve Bair, which connects Skopje with Sofia, is the last one that is being transformed into a highway with the best European standards. North Macedonia is part of the Balkan triangle of Corridor VIII, one of the most ambitious and important strategic projects of the European Union in the region, where through the Investment Framework for the Western Balkans (WBIF) about 14 million euros have been invested in the form of grants and about 21 million euros in the form of loans, part of the Connectivity Agenda from 2018.

"Corridor 8" is the road and rail transport corridor that passes through Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria, connecting the port of Varna in Bulgaria, from the Black Sea, to the port of Durrës in the Adriatic. This chain is then connected to Italy, the only EU member state within this corridor. It includes seaports, airports, about 960 km of land roads and over 1270 km of railways.

Historical disputes slow investment

But the importance of such major projects in the Balkans is often accompanied by disputes and problems carried over from history. The change of the political governing force in Skopje has revived the debates between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, which, among many political and historical debates, accuse each other of obstructing the works of this corridor.

Some time ago, the Bulgarian government denounced the diversion of EU funds by the Macedonian government, accusing it of diverting the funds to Corridor 10, the corridor connecting Skopje with Belgrade and Budapest. The new Macedonian Prime Minister, from the VRMO-DPMNE party, Hristijan Mickoski, said that the issue was being politicized and that the situation itself was simply an engineering problem and that on the Bulgarian side the railway project was unclear.

Sources close to the EU declined to comment on the political disputes between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, but they emphasized the great strategic importance of the two projects. "For us, Corridor 8 and Corridor 10 are extremely important and will be taken to the end," the sources said.

The funds depend on the implementation of the reforms

In June of this year, the European Commission approved the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans for the period 2024-2027, through which it invests in all candidate countries, with the aim of aligning with EU policy and standards. According to this plan, 6 billion euros will be divided into: 2 billion in the form of grants and 4 billion in loans, divided according to the gross domestic product and the population of each country. Disbursement of these funds and loans is possible only after the governments fulfill the reforms required by the European Union. In the case when the governments fail to implement the reforms, then the funds are transferred to the states that have managed to be successful, thus increasing the pressure to fulfill the reforms as quickly as possible.

The European Union is among the biggest investors in the Western Balkans. At the same time, the region has been suffering from a high level of corruption for years. Deutsche Welle asked another EU official about cases of abuse and corruption of EU funds in the region. "Corruption is a phenomenon that exists in all candidate countries, but the first moment we face them, our auditing and investigative mechanisms, such as OLAF and other structures, come into play. We have zero tolerance for corruption" - said the source, on the condition of anonymity.

"Corridor 8" – more connectivity, faster transport

"Corridor 8" was first conceived at the Pan-European Transport Conference held in Prague, Czech Republic in 1991. The ambition at the time was to put this idea into practice and complete it within a 15-year period, but the project remained in the drawer due to geopolitical developments, also encouraged by the launch of Chinese investments in the Balkan region.

After almost 30 years, this corridor was reintroduced to the agenda of European investments in the Balkans. In the Albanian territory, "Corridor 8" stretches for about 154 kilometers, and a part of it, such as the Tirana Bypass, will also serve for "Corridor 10". On the Albanian side, more work has been done on the road segments, while the investments for the railway lines that will be part of this project have progressed much more slowly.

In practice, the construction of "Corridor 8" means faster connectivity and transport between countries, which means better economic development, better opportunities for the movement of people and goods, being closer to the philosophy of the European common market. / DW